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Friday, February 28, 2014

Devils captain Bryce Salvador sounded optimistic today about playing in Saturday afternoon’s game against the Islanders after being struck in the collarbone with a slap shot from Columbus’ Jack Johnson 52 seconds into the third period Thursday night.

Salvador sat out the remainder of the game, but made the trip with team to Long Island today for their practice at Nassau Coliseum. Although he did not go on the ice, Salvador said he felt “good” today.

“We just figured we have another day,” Salvador said. “It was going to be a scramble and we only had 20 minutes on the ice anyway, so it was get some treatment and take advantage of the day.”

Still, it certainly hurt at the time and has caused some swelling, which is the biggest concern for Salvador as far as whether he’ll be able to play against the Islanders. Regardless, he said he thinks his chances of playing are “good.”

“Hopefully the swelling goes down and I get full range of movement,” Salvador said. “What we’re dealing with right now is making sure I get full range of movement so I can protect myself. If I go on the ice, the last thing I want to do is put myself in a vulnerable position where I can’t raise my arm.

“But, like I said, I made the trip with the goal and assumption to play tomorrow.”

Devils coach Pete DeBoer said they’ll wait to see how Salvador feels in the morning before deciding if he’ll play against the Islanders.

Salvador has a way of getting in the way of some of the hardest shots in the game. He was struck in the right wrist with a Zdeno Chara slap shot on April 10 of last season and, though no bones were broken, missed the final eight games.

Then, he had his left foot broken by a Johnson slap shot on Oct. 22 in Columbus and missed 30 games.

“You’re doing your job if you’re blocking shots because you’re in the right position,” Salvador said. “But, it was a freak situation. The puck just rolled on him at the last second, so what do you do? He’s definitely got my number that guy. He’s the one that broke my foot. I’ve got to buy him a couple of beers over the summer to change that karma that we’ve got going on. As soon as I saw it roll, I didn’t like what was going to potentially happen there. But, all in all, nothing broke and I didn’t get hit in the face.

“Yeah, it’s painful, but, like I said, I think I got pretty lucky.”

Salvador admitted he would have preferred Johnson’s shot struck him a little lower.

“Give credit to the goalies,” Salvador said. “I could have used some of their padding, that’s for sure.”

***Right wing Damien Brunner did not make the trip with the team and will not play against the Islanders after suffering a charley horse in his left leg on a hit from Boone Jenner in the first period Thursday night.

DeBoer did not rule out Brunner playing Sunday against San Jose, yet.

“He didn’t come with us today because he can’t play tomorrow. We’ll evaluate him when we get back tomorrow night to see if he’s eligible for Sunday.”

Jenner’s left knee appeared to hit Brunner on the left thigh. He tried to give it a go on the power play a couple minutes later, but was limping badly and hobbled off almost immediately to the bench.

“It was kind of fluky player there,” linemate Patrik Elias said. “He gets a charley horse and they can be pretty sore if you get it right in the deep muscle. At the same time, that’s something that hopefully he’ll be back soon.”

With Brunner out, Steve Bernier took his place at right wing on the line with Adam Henrique and Elias for today’s practice – as he did for the remainder of Thursday’s game. Jacob Josefson, who was a healthy scratch Thursday, will move into the lineup and skated today on the fourth line with Ryan Carter and Stephen Gionta.

Although they did no actual line rushes today, Gionta said that Josefson would likely be the center on the line and he would likely be the right wing.

***The Devils will be hoping to follow up Saturday on the positive game they played Thursday. They came roaring out after the Olympic break and jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the opening 8:54.

“That’s how you draw it up when you take the week and have your camp,” DeBoer said. “You want that kind of effort and it’s great that we got that. It’s definitely better than the alternative, but that doesn’t help us tomorrow. We’ve got to reset. It’s a new game, new opponent and we’ve got to find a new way to win.”

***DeBoer was asked again today if he thinks the team needs to add another scorer before Wednesday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline.

“I don’t think there’s any coach around the league if you asked that question – other than maybe a couple guys – if they had a Christmas list (it) wouldn’t have something on it – whether it was another scorer, another defensemen, a goalie,” DeBoer said. “But it’s not realistic either. This is a tough league to make deals in and it has been since the salary cap came. I like our group. We think we can get it done with the people that are here. If that changes, then we’ll go from there.”

But, DeBoer also repeated what he’s been saying for the last two weeks – that he’s going on the assumption no moves will be made.

“My expectations are zero right now,” he said. “My expectation is that we’re going to be going to the wire with the group we have here and I’m good with that.”

***Rather than practice at Prudential Center today and then bus put to Long Island to spend the night before Saturday’s game, the Devils decided to make the trip earlier and practice at Nassau Coliseum.

The idea was to try to be the Friday traffic.

“That was probably the main focus,” DeBoer said. “As close as it is, there’s no easy way to get here on a Friday night. So, we changed it up. We haven’t done this before. We liked the idea of it anyway.”

It didn’t work out so well in theory, though. The Devils were scheduled to leave Prudential Center at noon and practiced at 2 p.m. They didn’t get to Nassau Coliseum until 2 p.m. though.

“It took us a little longer than we thought,” DeBoer said. “I guess whatever it took us this afternoon, it would probably take us an extra hour tonight.”

About

TOM GULITTI has covered the New Jersey Devils for The Record since 2002. Prior to that, he covered the New York Rangers for four years. Gulitti joined The Record in 1998 after six years at The North Jersey Herald News. He graduated from Binghamton University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric-Literature.